


Fault Lines

by respoftw



Series: Tumblr Prompts - Hawksilver edition [17]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, mentions of past Clint/Coulson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-19
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-31 07:58:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3970105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Anonymous said:</p>
<p>The Avengers stay at the new Avengers facility and Pietro is a pain in the ass. Loud, snarky, cocky - driving everyone crazy. Clint confronts him and realizes that really it's just a front and that Pietro is still quite wary of them, esp. Tony</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fault Lines

 

“Why do I have to be the one to speak to him?!” 

This was just typical, Clint thought.  Ever since Steve had invited the Maximoff’s on to the team, like they were stray puppies he found on the street, Clint was the one who constantly had to run interference between the twins and everyone else. 

“They like you, Clint.  You can get through to him.”  Steve sounds so earnest.  Clint hates when he pulls the earnest Boy Scout voice out, he can never say no to that.  Although, in this case he’s going to give it a damn good try.

“No.  _Wanda_ likes me.  The brat? Nope.  No way.”

Tony seems unconcerned as he sips on his drink.  “They’re twins.  One likes you, the other one has to as well.”

Clint just glares at him.  Seriously, had either of them _seen_ his interactions with Pietro?  Clint had approached the kid when he came back from his (unsuccessful) last ditch attempt to save his relationship with Laura.  Pietro had been not long discharged from the hospital, his recovery from the mess in Sokovia long and painful, but no less impressive for it.  Anyone else would have been cold in the ground from those injuries, a fact that had caused Clint more than a few nightmares over the past months.  Clint had tried to thank him, to bury the hatchet and welcome the kid to the Avengers but Pietro had rebuffed him with a snotty accusation that he wouldn’t have had to almost die if Clint had been better at his damn job in the first place. 

Things hadn’t improved since then.

“Please, Clint.”  Great, Steve had moved on from earnest and was using the stern voice now.  “It needs to stop.  His attitude is a problem, I was willing to give him some time to adjust but he’s just getting worse.  I’m this close to benching him, Clint.  We can’t work with someone who doesn’t trust us.  I don’t want to have to do it but unless he bucks up, he’s off the team. “

Steve looks pained at the thought and Clint is shocked that things have gone that far.  Yeah, the kid was arrogant.  Sullen. Rude.  Untrusting of everyone who isn’t Wanda and not afraid to let people know it.  But he had so much potential.  Clint can’t help but see a little bit of himself in the kid.  He knows he put Coulson through hell in those early years but Phil had stuck with him, believed in him.  He wouldn’t be the man he is today without him and the fact that they’re not giving Pietro that chance angers him.

Natasha can read him like a book, as always.  “It’s not the same Clint.  This isn’t SHIELD.  This is the Avengers and it’s a whole different league.  We can’t work with him like this. I agree with Steve that you’re the one who has the best chance of getting through to him.” 

Clint sighs in acceptance.  He’s not looking forward to it but he’s got to try.  It’s what Phil would have done for him.  “Fine.  But if I end up putting an arrow in him, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

*

Wanda opens the door to him before he even had a chance to knock, almost as if she knew he was there.  Hell, maybe she did know.  Every day it was becoming more and more clear just how limitless Wanda's power really was.

“I am glad they sent you.”

“I’m not even gonna ask how you know what’s going on.”

Wanda smiles at him.  Clint is the only one who isn’t afraid of what she can do.  It’s probably why she likes him so much.

With a whispered “Good luck” she’s gone.

Clint closes the door behind him as he enters the Maximoff’s room.  It’s the first time he (or anyone) has visited the twins.  The siblings refused to be separated and insisted on sharing a room despite the neighbouring rooms that Tony had set up for them.  Clint is relieved to see there are two beds at least.  At least that rumour was wrong.

The bedroom is very clearly defined between Wanda's space (candles, patchwork bed quilt, incense and glossy magazines everywhere) and Pietro's mess. He really shouldn't be surprised to see the chaos that is Pietro's side of the room but it irks the SHIELD agent in him anyway.

“You know, considering it would take you all of ten seconds to clean this place up, you're being pretty damn inconsiderate making your sister live in this mess.” Clint turns away from his once over of the room to look at where Pietro is lounging on his unmade bed.

The kid doesn't seem impressed by his opening gambit.

“Well since the last two places we lived were a HYDRA cell and an alley, I say she can take it.”

_Right, definitely not impressed by his opening gambit._ Clint tries another tactic.

“Wanda seemed to know why I was here. Do you?”

Pietro's face hardens as his glare intensifies. “I imagine it's something about ' _being a team player'_ and ' _letting us in_ '”

Clint almost cracks a smile at the tragic American accent Pietro adopted while trying to imitate Captain America but his mind is on serious matters.

“No. That ship has sailed. I'm here to tell you to drop the attitude or you're out.”

Clint watches closely as Pietro's eyes widen in surprise then fill with hurt. 

It exasperates him.

“Jesus, kid. This can't be that much of a shock. You have deliberately fought us every step of the way. You're belligerent, you're selfish, you've not made any effort - “

“Effort? EFFORT?!” Pietro bursts over to grab Clint by the arms in a rush of blue. “You want to know about effort? I'd like to see how you would cope, living with the person responsible for killing your entire family.” Pietro's chest is heaving as he stares at Clint. 

Clint really should have seen this one coming. “This is about Tony?”

“Stark,” Pietro spits the name out as if it was something vile, “thinks that putting a roof over our head and buying us fancy suits will make up for what he did?”

“His _weapons_.”

“His what?”

“Tony didn't kill your family. Someone used his _weapons_ to do it. That's not on him.”

Pietro curses in Sokovian, releasing Clint from his hold in disgust. “ _His weapons. His fault_ .”

Clint rolls his shoulders, feeling the ache from where Pietro had been grabbing him. He was going to have bruises tomorrow. And not the good kind. He felt for the kid, he really did. Clint knew what it was like to lose both your parents, although in his case it was his asshole father to blame. He really does see a lot of himself in Pietro. It's probably that fact that makes him start to talk about the thing he usually refuses to talk about.

“Did you ever hear about what happened with Loki?”

“Oh what, is it story time?”

“Shut it, kid. I killed dozens of SHIELD agents. Some of them were even my friends.”

Pietro shakes his head. “No. I've heard the story. Loki killed those people, he just used you to do it. It's why you don't like Wanda messing about in your head.”

Clint snorts. “Listen to what you just said. You're saying that I'm not to blame, when I was there, when it was my hands and my arrows that killed people but Tony, who was on the other side of the Atlantic and probably hadn't even heard of Sokovia, is?”

Pietro runs his fingers through his hair as he collapses back onto his bed. “It's not the same.”

Clint rolls his eyes and sits next to Pietro on the bed. “I'm pretty sure that the families of the people Loki had me kill feel exactly the same as you.”

Pietro's eyes are bright with tears as he looks at Clint. “But you're a good man.”

“So is Tony. He's fricking Iron Man for chrissakes.” 

Pietro turns away from him but Clint stops him a hand to his cheek. “I know that it's hard. But you need to accept that he's sorry for what happened, we all are, but it wasn't his fault.”

“I don't want to leave the Avengers.” Pietro sounds lost and years younger than he is. Clint's heart strings are definitely being pulled. He wonders if this is how Coulson felt all those years ago.

“Then let us help you. Trust us. We've got your back....I've got your back.”

Pietro nods and Clint lets his hand drop, already missing the warmth of Pietro's skin under his hand. He wonders if  _this_ is how Coulson felt all those years ago.

_Hell_ , he thinks,  _there are worse stories to relive._

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Come say Hi! on [Tumblr](https://pietrolovesclint.tumblr.com)


End file.
